Online Reporter
Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]
FEMALE gold miners in Makwe, Gwanda District in Matabeleland South Province, have been handed an empowerment lifeline through a donation of 10 hammer mills to use to increase gold output and improve their livelihoods.
The donation was made by Zanu-PF Gwanda North shadow Member of Parliament, Cde Lungisani Ncube, to a group of 100 female miners who will work in groups of 10 to operate the hammer mills.
Hammer mills are used in gold mining to crush hard-rock gold ore into a fine powder, which is then processed to trap gold particles and can cost about US$1 500 each.
Cde Ncube, a respected miner in the area, said he personally knows some of the women as hard workers who have been in the small-scale mining sector for years.
“Some of the ladies who received the hammer mills have been mining gold in Makwe for 10 to 15 years, they know the business and its risks very well and all they needed was a helping hand with equipment,” he said.
“I realised that sometimes they spend weeks with piles of gold ore but cannot process their gold because of shortages of hammer mills in the area.
“We now expect them to continue digging for gold ore while two or three of them process the gold ore and that way production is not interrupted,” said Cde Ncube.
Zanu-PF Matabeleland South Women’s League chairlady, Cde Sindisiwe Nleya, hailed Cde Ncube for the initiative to capacitate the female miners.
“When you empower women, you empower the nation. About 100 families will not go to bed hungry and children will go to school with proper uniforms because 100 women have been empowered,” she said.
“Makwe is rich in gold deposits and we are happy that the women from this area will benefit from the natural resources,” said Cde Nleya.
Ward 8 councillor, Mr Zwelithini Nyathi, said drug and substance abuse remains a major threat to development in the area and called on the youth to form groups to get assistance from the business community.
“We can’t develop as a community if we have a lot of people who are taking drugs and other harmful substances. We are looking up to the youths for productivity, but they can’t deliver if they are always drunk.
“It’s also concerning that it’s mostly women who are involved in trafficking, distribution and supply of drugs. Now that women have been handed over mining equipment, we pray that the problem of drug and substance abuse will come to an end,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries Mrs Londi Moyo said the hammer mills will reduce operational costs of producing gold, leaving them with more money in their pockets.
“We are charged every time we use someone else’s hammer mills so we would like to thank Cde Ncube for the donation that will go a long way in ensuring that we have more money in our pockets,” said Mrs Moyo.
